So my post got deleted since you thought I had created this account just to post a product "bash". I have been a lurker for about 6 months on this forum (and I find RF much more pleasant than any other forums) but it was only last night that I created an account to participate in this thread.
I do not mean to "bash" the product but I really do question the nutritional value of spray dried phytoplankton.
Coral Frenzy: You asked me in the response post as to show you how spray drying was bad?
First an introduction to spray drying:
Spray drying is an incredibly cost effective way of preserving foods. It is done very fast and is large batches of the product can be spray dried at once.
The product is sprayed into a fine mist into a large "oven". The oven is kept at around 200 degrees celcius. Sometimes higher. This causes all the liquid in the product to quickly evaporate and it forms a powder.
Phytoplankton is a plant material. I'm sure most of you have read that cooking a vegetable greatly lowers it's nutritional value. Imagine throwing a single celled plant into a 200 degrees celcius oven. You will destroy almost every enzyme and vitamin in there.
1) Sanjay Joshi also mentions that spray drying can ruin the nutritional value of phytoplankton.
2) JBNY, the owner of cnidarianreef.com, discourages the use of spray dried phytoplankton as well. He used to use it in his reef for a while and had a very tough time controlling algae blooms.
3) Rob Tooney wrote a report on spray dried phytoplankton and how he tested for it's lack of nutrition.
http://reefcentral.com/library/phytoplankton.php
4) I work in a flower preservation store in San Diego. I have been freeze drying things for over 5 years. And before that I had been in the spray drying industry for 7 years, I know my freeze-drying/spray drying processes INCREDIBLY well. I know that spray dried phytoplankton is not a good food product for corals. Over 50% of Coral Frenzy is made from spray dried phytoplanktons. That is my concern.
There are several threads on forums with algae outbreaks after using Coral Frenzy. I'm not trying to bash your product but am pointing out some factual information.
As for the freeze dried rotifers from brineshrimpdirect.com, those are also incredibly nutrient rich (and also have a VERY tough time sinking) Most if it will go into your overflow and get skimmed out. Take a pinch of it and put it in a tablespoon of water and check the phosphate levels in that small amount of water.
Freeze dried rotifers from BSD were suggested as a coral food source years ago on RC. People tried it with bad results and that is why it remains as an fish aquaculture food where water quality is not nearly as big of an issue.
I have not used the other freeze dried products in the product, so I can not comment on those.
My post is NOT intended to bash your product. So I hope my post does not get deleted again. If you find my input offensive, then I apologize, but perhaps you can use input like this to possibly improve your product in the future?
Just because corals get a feeding response, it doenst' mean it's a good food source. If you take some flake food, grind it up to a dust and mix it with water and then squirt it on your corals. you will get an excellent feeding response as well. But do that for a week and tell me if your water quality is still up to snuff.
